Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #3Review

Share.

Laurie tunes in, turns on, and drops out.

By Jesse Schedeen

With the third issue of Silk Spectre, poor, inexperienced Laurie enters her Pink Elephant phase. Roughly a quarter of the issue chronicles her first acid trip and the bizarre, stream of consciousness ramblings that accompany it. In a weird way, it reads almost like Silk Spectre's answer to Watchmen #4, offering a similarly fragmented, nonlinear approach to exploring one particular character's psyche. And this issue may very well stand out among the Before Watchmen pack just as Watchmen #4 has all these years.

With the focus on psychedelia, it should come as no surprise that the artwork is really the star of the show here. Amanda Conner continues to stick to the traditional Watchmen nine-panel grid on a basic level, but that grid becomes far more of a loose guide than a strict set of rules here. Panels bend and weave to match Laurie's mental state, at one point even leading the eye around in a spiral. Luckily, the issue never loses its readability. And alongside all the expressive figure work and bright, attractive colors from Paul Mounts, Conner also adds a fun new wrinkle by working in a series of famous paintings into the page layouts. Much in the same way the daydream panels in issue #1 offered readers a glimpse of Laurie's playful personality, paintings like Munch's "The Scream" offer a window into her mind. Artistically, Conner is doing a better job than anyone of doing justice to the original series. Which is to say -- respecting the original aesthetic but pushing boldly forward in different directions.

The art alone would be enough to justify a purchase at this point, but fortunately, there's a solid story beneath all the flourish. Conner and Darwyn Cooke largely use this issue to explore what happens when the high wears off and the real world begins creeping itself back in. The new villain the writers introduced, Gurustein, doesn't prove to be that compelling or dramatic a figure, but he serves his purpose well enough. The writers add a new wrinkle of tragedy to the relationship between Laurie and Greg, and also involve several other Watchmen players in effective ways. One character in particular is handled more effectively here than they have been in their own series.

Besides the typically bland Crimson Corsair feature, there's really nothing to complain about with Silk Spectre #3. This may be the only Before Watchmen book that leaves me immediately wanting more once it wraps up.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.